1. Field of the Invention:
The rearwardly controlled snow ski of the present invention relates to a relatively short ski which enables the skier to practice a novel skiing technique accommodating turns wherein the ski is essentially pivoted about the rear extremity of the ski.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
As described in my aforementioned patent, the evolution of skiing has led to current day parallel skiing wherein turns are accomplished in a number of different styles, one of which involves shifting of the weight abruptly forwardly on the skis in order to swing the tails of the skis to one side about the more forward portion of the skis, thus accommodating the turn to the side opposite such one side. Other styles emphasize merely sliding the tails of the skis away from the direction of the turn and further styles even emphasize unweighting of the tips of the skis in what is known as a "jet turn". Skis commonly used in these various styles of skiing generally incorporate a ski constructed of metal, fiber glass or the like to assume a camber wherein the central portion of the ski is self-biased to a raised position elevated slightly from the opposite ends of the ski and having mounted thereon bindings for receiving the skier's boots. Efforts have been made to simplify the teaching of skiing by a technique known as a graduated length method (GLM) wherein a skier initially begins on shorter skis, as for instance skis in the neighborhood of 100 centimeters long and even shorter, and then advances to longer skis as his skills develop, such GLM skis being conventionally shaped and of conventional flexibility throughout their length. While all of the aforedescribed skis offer great enjoyment for the skier, they are all characterized by central location of the ski binding in a forward-aft direction on the ski and by the fact that they are all formed with tails projecting rearwardly of the binding and having a length nearly equal to the leading portion of the ski projecting forwardly of the binding, with both such tail and leading portions having substantially the same flexibility. Such design characteristics extremely limit the ski performance, thus preventing the skier from performing styles of turns wherein the ski itself essentially pivots about the tail of the ski and requiring the tail to always be shifted to one side or the other relative to the remainder of the ski while a turn is being accommodated. Further, such prior art skis provide substantially equal balance between the front and rear of the skis and fail to mount the skier rearwardly on the ski to enable the flexibility of the leading ski portion to lead the way over irregularities and obstacles without the resistance normally offered by the leverage exhibited the ski tail.